thursday evening

unfortunately, writing about it on Saturday morning ... which means that you don't get to know what I was up to yesterday and today ... but life isn't fair ... so let's just get on with it.

smoking as we know is a bad habit - if it is a habit that is.
smoking by itself - like everything else - is neither good nor bad.
for me, it sometimes gives me an opportunity to observe things in the middle of an otherwise hectic day as we mindlessly or rather, shortsightedly scuttle about our daily chores in a rush to get over with the day.

so there I was, on thursday evening, after the conf call was done, wondering whether or not to and finally deciding to, and also deciding to walk down to the lake side that I mentioned in one of my earlier posts to support the needy while I was at it...

I walked out of the office to the warm glow of the sodium vapor lamps. Something felt different. I initially assumed that it was just me feeling happy about a fruitful day at work - when I got quite a bit done - and with a couple of hours left to go, there was the promise that it would end up even better ...

As the cars honked their way home like flocks of geese (but for the lack of formation), with beams on full, lighting up the scowls of the drivers as they turned the corners, I realized that the air was actually a little cooler, and perhaps it was because of the dust in the air, but it felt a lot like the onset of autumn ... an early september evening in Delhi perhaps ... when there is a slight mist in the air ... there are dew drops on the grass ... frost I think ... but either ways, it is wet to the bare feet and you can just about smell the earth because of the moisture... yes. That is why I was feeling good. Or maybe things looked that way because I was feeling good.

Well, I proceeded to walk slowly, thanking god for the space that he had given me to appreciate the beauty ... which most of the humanity around me appeared to be so oblivious to. I went to my favourite corner, looking out over the lake through the wire-mesh fence and watched the gentle ripples ... the wind wasn't too strong ... barely caressing the face ... just strong enough to prevent you from blowing smoke circles I realized. The sky was lighter too ... probably because of the smog and dust or perhaps because of the clouds (it rained cats and dogs later that night) ... but it looked pretty amazing ... like something surreal out of an alien landscape ... I could almost imagine myself to be on mars or some other planet ...

The lights were reflecting off the lake, I could see the line of headlights in the distance across the lake ... one white car with those irritating bluish-purple (UV?) lights actually looked good in the reflection.

The cigarette eventually burnt out. I stubbed it out and walked back. Happy.